Leather-dressing



. oil or other vehicle until wholly dissolved.

UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

JANE MOORE, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

LEATHER-DRESSING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of. Letters Patent No. 572,439, dated December 1, 1896.

Application filed May 14:, 1896. Serial No. 591,490. o specimens.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JANE MOORE, of Cambridge, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvementiu Leather-Dressing, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a compound especially intended for dressing leather, and parti cularly patent or enameled leather.

In the manufacture of patent-leather the leather is very apt to be weakened in the baking-oven and the fiber thereof rendered weak and comparatively lifeless, and therefore it is necessary that the leather shall receive not only a certain amount of strength and permanency from the dressing, but the dressing should be of such a character as to give a degree of nourishment and pliability to the leather as well as to suitably improve and strengthen the enamel, rendering the latter tough, brilliant, and pliable without liability to crack or become otherwise injured.

It is the object of my invention to meet all these requirements in an improved dressing, consisting, preferably, of the following ingredients compounded substantially in the proportions herein set forth, although I do not intend to limit my invention preciselyto these proportions: one gallon paraflin oil, four ounces pure beeswax, one-half ounce pulverized Spanish licorice, one-eighth ounce Para rubbergum, and one-eighth ounce guttapercha.

I prepare the compound dressing in substantially the above proportions, as follows: The paraflin-oil or other vehicle, if preferred, and the wax and Spanish licorice are mixed and kept at a boiling-point until the wax is entirely dissolved. The rubber and gutta-v percha, which have been previously cut up by suitable means, as, preferably, by a small amount of petroleumoil, (two ounces,) to which, preferably, about four grains of borax has been added as an antiseptic, are then mixed with a suitable portion of the paraffin- As the previously-boiled wax and licorice mixture cools, the latter rubber and guttapercha mixture is stirred in thoroughly until the entire dressing compound has cooled. The dressing is then properly strained.

The compound as thus prepared is especially intended as a manufacturers dressing for use in the preparation of patent-leather or enameleddeather stock.

When this dressing is to be used as an outer dressing for the finished articles into which the leather is manufactured, I add, preferably, about three ounces of ivory-black to the compound when at the boiling-point, and when cool whip to a cream.

The ordinary dressings for patent-leather which are now in common use invariably contain some special drying ingredient. It is one object of my invention to avoid this, for the reason that any specific drying ingredient is particularly injurious to patent-leather.

The enemy of patent-leather is the drying effect of the atmosphere, and therefore the leather needs a strengthening and softening nourishment to prevent it from hardening and cracking. Beeswax contains the essential nourishment which the peculiarly dry and tender leather forming the body of patent-leather requires. The paraffin-oil acts preferably as a carrier, as this oil is not overhardening, being only slowly volatile, and also as it never becomes rancid it has no tendency to disintegrate and dissolve the enamel or to render the same dull, as would otherwise be the case. The rubber is introduced for the purpose of giving elasticity and permanence to the leather and enamel, more particularly to the latter, and also preserves and increases the shine. The gutta-percha is particularly useful in preventing the chipping off of the enamel, rendering the same tough and inte-. gral with the leather, and, in fact, giving to both the leather and the enamel unusual strength. The Spanish licorice is found to be of extreme value in my compound, inasmuch as it gives the enamel a remarkably superior finish, not only in brilliancy and permanency of shine to the surface, but it alsogives the enamel a peculiar smoothness and fine quality, so that the enamel is entirely Without liability to stick to the machinery or to itself when passed through the machinery or when doubled over on itself. I consider the softening and brilliancygiven to the enamel by this feature of my invention as of superior the fibers of the leather rendering the same non-absorbent and preventing the same from becoming overdrawing and from absorbing the ammonia and other deleterious matters from the feet.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The herein-described dressing, consisting' of a compound of rubber, gutta-percha, Spanish licorice, and a vehicle, substantially as described.

2. The herein-described dressing, consisting of a compound of Wax, rubber, Spanish licorice and a vehicle, substantially as described.

3. The herein-described dressing, consistin g of a compound of WaX,gutta-percha,Spanish licorice, and a vehicle, substantially as described.

4. The herein-described dressing, consisting of a compound of rubber, Spanish licorice, and a vehicle, substantially as described.

5. The herein-described dressing, consisting of a compound of Wax, rubber, guttapercha, Spanish licorice, and paraffin-oil, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JANE MOORE.

\Vitnesses:

LAURA T. MANIX, THOMAS J. DRUMMOND. 

